In the field of electronics integrated circuits are provided in various packages. One such package is known as a DIP (dual-in-line) package in which the actual integrated circuit chip is within the package housing and electrical leads or contacts, e.g. pin contacts, extend to the outside of the package in a pair of rows, say of eight or more contacts each, to connect the integrated circuit with the outside world. Other types of patterns or arrangements of the integrated circuit package or the like also are used, such as a rectangular pattern of a leaded chip carrier. Regardless of the pattern of the integrated circuit package leads, such leads typically are connected mechanically and electrically to other circuits, e.g. by connection through plated through holes in a printed circuit board, by surface mount techniques to terminal pads on a printed circuit board, by connections in an appropriate socket device, and so on.
For facility and in the interest of brevity, the present invention will be described in detail below with respect to a DIP package device (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as "DIP") with an integrated circuit or other device or system therein or associated therewith. However, it will be appreciated that the principles of the invention may be employed with integrated circuit packages and the like of other patterns of contacts.
For various reasons sometimes it is desirable to connect further circuitry to an integrated circuit package while allowing the integrated circuit package still to function in usual manner. Thus, for example, for a sixteen pin DIP that ordinarily is plugged into a DIP socket, it may be desirable to connect the respective leads of a multiconductor flat ribbon cable to respective contacts of the DIP while the contacts of the DIP remain electrically connected with the contacts within the socket and, thus, with further circuitry to which those socket contacts are in turn connected.
In the past the foregoing was accomplished by attaching two cable terminations to an end of a multiconductor flat ribbon cable--one cable termination (a DIP connector) had pin contacts and the other cable termination had female, say fork, contacts. The mentioned pin contacts of the DIP connector were analagous to the pin contacts or leads of the DIP package to connect with the plated through holes of a printed circuit board, to an integrated circuit socket, etc. The mentioned fork contacts served in a sense as a DIP socket type device to receive the leads of the integrated circuit DIP package. The two cable terminations were coupled to the cable at axially spaced apart locations along the length of the cable; and the cable was folded over a bend of about 180 degrees to place the socket device above and essentially in line with the DIP connector device. In this way pin contact one of the integrated circuit package would be connected via pin one of the socket type cable termination to conductor one of the cable; and such conductor one would in turn be connected to pin one of the DIP connector and also would provide an electrical connection to a further device. Such electrical connection to a further device may be used for various purposes, e.g. to extend memory, to add capacity or functions, to provide signal monitoring and/or signal injection, and so on.
There have been a number of disadvantages to the prior techniques and devices just described for providing in line emulation functions. For one, two different cable terminations must be coupled to the cable in one way or another requiring a fair amount of labor, machine time and materials and increasing the possibility of a fault. Second, the resulting product requires a relatively large space for the over-placed cable terminations have a relatively high profile. Third, a means is needed to hold together the several cable terminations relative to each other, and the stronger the connection of such parts the larger they will be and correspondingly the more space will be required therefor. It is, of course, desired to minimize space requirements for at least most parts used in electronics thereby to increase parts density and functionality of a device.
Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,799 for Jumper Connector. The entire disclosure of such patent hereby is incorporated by reference. In such patent is disclosed a cable termination assembly including a multiconductor flat ribbon cable and a cable termination formed of plural insulation displacement connection (hereinafter referred to as IDC) contacts and a strain relief body that is molded directly to at least part of the cable and contacts to form an integral structure therewith. The IDC contacts have sharp points at the end of a pair of legs that define a slot therebetween; the points may be used to pierce through the cable insulation so that a respective cable conductor enters the slot and makes electrical connection with the contact. The mentioned legs are at one side of a base of the contact, and a pair of tines extend from the opposite side of the base to form a fork contact.
To manufacture such a cable termination assembly, the fork contacts may be placed in a mold such that the fork tines enter a retention cavity in the mold. The IDC legs of the contacts are positioned to face out from the mold being exposed to perform the desired IDC connection function with respect to a cable placed with respect to the same. Such a cable is placed over the IDC legs, and then the mold may be closed. Upon such closure, the mold itself, or more specifically core bars therein, presses the cable against the IDC legs causing the latter to pierce through the cable insulation to make the desired IDC connection with a respective cable conductor. With the mold closed and likely at least partly shutting off against part of the cable, a mold cavity is defined, and plastic or other electrically non-conductive material may be injected into the cavity to form the strain relief as an integral structure with the cable and contacts. Afterwards, the mold may be opened to remove the part and, if desired, a cap or cover may be placed over the exposed fork tines to protect them and to facilitate guiding pin contacts or the like into engagement therewith.
The contacts are arranged in a pair of parallel rows as a DIP configuration. The base of each contact includes or provides an offset so that the IDC legs and the fork tines are somewhat offset from each other so that the contacts in one of the parallel rows thereof align with and connect respectively with every other cable conductor, while the contacts in the other row align with and connect respectively with the other cable conductors. Using such offset arrangement, the fork contacts in the pair of rows thereof are in fact arranged in an aligned parallel relation or DIP pattern, as is known. As is disclosed in such '799 patent, the contacts may be of a type other than fork contacts. One such contact is that referred to herein as a DIP contact, which is similar to the IDC contact just described but has a single pin contact or lead extending from the base in place of the pair of fork tines mentioned earlier.